We’ve all heard that ‘the client is always right’ to what we could add … ‘according to him’. It is no less true that being in possession of reason is something relative and that is subject to various interpretations, but during these days of shopping and Christmas gifts I have had occasion to live (and sometimes suffer) that uncomfortable (and usually unpleasant) situation that is to have to claim for something that you are not satisfied with. I do not mean to make a change of article that you do not like, but to a claim for being dissatisfied and feeling disappointed with the acquired. It is in this situation where I frequently check (directly or indirectly) the large number of companies and businesses that insist on having to choose between having clients or being right in the discussion or the clash of the claim.

A claim can become a positive act and an occasion to increase the loyalty of customers to the company if it is treated properly, because a client who is satisfied with the way in which their claim has been treated is much more willing to return that those not satisfied, but there are also studies that show that well-attended claimants would recommend the company more often (even) than those who never had a complaint. A large company linked to the computer made a study among its customers which we can highlight these results:

• Of the customers who had no complaints, 84% would buy again and 91% would recommend the company.
• Of the customers who had filed a complaint and were satisfied with the response, 92% would buy again and 94% would recommend the company.
• Of the clients who had submitted a claim and were not satisfied with the response from the company, 46% would buy again and 48% would recommend the company.

With these data we can see how important it is for invoicing to deal well with a claim, especially when we do not have a captive market. So let’s review the seven Deadly Sins that will make you choose between having clients or being right, (we will ignore the professional cheek that has made the claim his extortionary trade and we will think of the habitual customers). It would be a sin to do the following (even if you’re right):

1. Cross out the client of pijotero : ‘Es vd. the first who has complained about that ‘or’ do not exaggerate that it is not so much ‘.

2. Being a sarcastic : ‘Well, you have had vd. Good luck because normally … it breaks before … … lasts less … gives worse result ‘, etc.

3. The customer is stupid and does not know how to buy : ‘If you thought vd. that with that price would be good is that he lives in the worlds of yupi ‘

4. Boldly contradict the client : ‘Impossible, that can not be, it will be for less’

5. Blame the client : ‘You will have broken it. and now he wants to place it on me. ‘

6. The good guy is me and I forgive your life : ‘Well, he was lucky to catch me because …’ ”

7. The best of all, the proud educator : ‘If you want me to attend you talk to me with education and less smoke’.

Many times these sins are committed by our employees and in the management of the company we only see the economic consequences of these actions as something that falls from the sky while we wonder why. In these situations, a hidden inspection is recommended to find out what happens.

As an immediate solution, we can implement elementary rules in our company so that all of them can face customer complaints in the same way. These rules can be the following:

1. Control gestures . Non-verbal language may be transmitting things that we do not want to say but that we think or feel and that will spoil the situation.

2. Internal reflection . Is it a rational or affective claim? If it originates in a feeling try to tune in with the client because the dimensionality that the client gives to the damage can not have limits.

3. Objectivity . Maintaining a positive attitude to solve it with the client will make you feel more comfortable and relaxed and, consequently, easier to satisfy.

4. Acceptance . The client has the right to complain and as he said at the beginning, he considers that he is right. Do not see it as an attack, rather as they said in The Godfather “is not personal, they are business.

5. Ease . Facilitating the whole process of a claim conveys the feeling of better care and greater satisfaction, even in the face of the same final result.

In short, the attention to a claim can be a weapon to improve loyalty, on the contrary a bad attention will be a negative publicity by word of mouth, because the client who feels cheated or swindled will take advantage of any situation to tell it and make see that He is right and the company is not, and that is why he will no longer return to such a place.